Without a football team, homecoming isn't quite the same so York College does the next best thing by hosting a Fall Festival.
Much like a traditional homecoming football game, on Saturday the action at York centered around four sports, volleyball, field hockey, along with a women's and men's soccer doubleheader.
Women's soccer captured the most heart-pounding win of the day when Rachel Allen picked the perfect time to score her first career goal.

Allen, No. 18 above being congratulated on her goal, drilled a hard shot into the left corner of the net 6:10 in overtime, giving the Spartans a 2-1 win over Moravian.
"It felt really good to be out there," Allen said after recording the winning marker in just her second game back from a sprained MCL.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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How bleak did things look for Philadelphia? Very.

Phillies starting pitcher Brett Myers had walked in a run in the first (typically his worst inning) and Milwaukee still had the bases loaded with one out.

This was a disaster waiting to happen. Plus, the Brewers had ace hurler C.C. Sabathia on the mound, so any deficit was scary.

One pitch changed the momentum when Brewer Corey Hart bounced the ball back to Myers, who started a 1-2-3 double play.

Was something special was about to happen? It would have been hard to say, considering the Phils had to come back against the 6-foot-8 monster Sabathia, who had been virtually un-hittable since joining Milwaukee.

Yet, comeback they did thanks to a second inning that could well go down in Philadelphia sports' lore, keyed by a Myers' at bat of all things.

Posted in Pro Sports Steve Navaroli

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It was quite a week for Adrienne Stine, the 2006 Northeastern High School grad, who is having a great year for the Penn State Harrisburg women's soccer team.

The former Bobcat was honored as the North East Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Student-Athlete of the Week for her offensive performance for the Nittany Lions.

Stine, shown below in her 2005 YAIAA all-star photo, had three goals on 13 shots during the week, thanks to a hat trick during a 4-0 win over Gallaudet.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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Talk about a great debut, Spring Grove alum Matt Marshall, seen here in his Rocket playing days, made his first start at quarterback for East Stroudsburg University last Saturday.

Marshall, a redshirt sophomore, completed 17-of-26 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns in the Warriors' 52-12 victory over Cheney. He rushed 10 times for 27 yards as well.

He rallied from an early interception to go 10-of-15 for 179 yards in the first half.

The performance was especially impressive considering that Marshall is recovering from a career-threatening shoulder injury.

Not only did Marshall make the most of his first start, but fellow YAIAA alum, Ed Kiser of Red Lion had a great day himself, hauling in a 44-yard touchdown strike from back-up Ray Wagner.

Kiser finished with three catches for 75 yards. The speedy redshirt sophomore has caught 12 passes for 179 yards and two scores in five games for the 5-0 Warriors.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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Brad Lidge might be making things a little too interesting, but the Phils' closer did the job once again, allowing a run on two hits while preserving Philadelphia's 3-1 win over Milwaukee in Game 1 of the National League Divisional Series.

Thanks to Chase Utley's two-run double in the third inning and the brilliant pitching of Cole Hamels, the Phillies garnered their first playoff win since 1993.

Hamels allowed only two hits and struck out nine through eight innings before giving way to Lidge.

Posted in Pro Sports Steve Navaroli

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Cole Hamels has allowed only two hits through eight innings of shutout ball. The southpaw has fanned nine Milwaukee batters as well.

Posted in Pro Sports Steve Navaroli

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Status quo after seven innings as both Brewers and Phillies go down in order.

Posted in Pro Sports Steve Navaroli

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The Brewers got two on with one out in the sixth off of Cole Hamels, but the lefty fan Bill Hall for his eighth strikeout and got Ryan Braun to pop up ending the threat.

Philadelphia went down in order in its half of the inning.

Posted in Pro Sports Steve Navaroli

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Thanks to Chase Utley's two-run double in the third inning, the Phils are up 3-0 in Game 1 of their playoff series against Milwaukee

Carols Ruiz singled to start the third and pitcher Cole Hamels laid down a sacrifice bunt and was safe on a fielding error by Brewers second baseman Ricky Weeks.

Two outs later, Utley doubled to center, scoring both Ruiz and Hamels.

Three straight walks plated Utley with the third run.

Hamels has allowed just one hit through five innings. loaded the basesC.Ruiz scored,

Posted in Pro Sports Steve Navaroli

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Susquehannock grad Chaz Powell is seen slapping hands with fans in the Penn State student section right in front of a sign some of his fellow students made in his honor.

The redshirt freshman saw action early in Saturday night's win over Illinoi, which indicates that he has earned the confidence of Lion coaches after scoring two touchdowns in Penn State's first four games.

Posted in College Spotlight Penn State Football Steve Navaroli

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Last week was a big week for three YAIAA alumni.

Starting close to home, Eastern York grad April McFarland scored three times and added an assist for the York College field hockey team and was named Capital Athletic Conference field hockey Player of the Week.

With the three goals, the senior is second on the Spartans' career goals list and is third in overall points.

Meanwhile at Wilson College in Chambersburg, 2008 West York graduate Eliza Decoste notched her first collegiate point, garnering an assist during Wilson's 3-1 loss to Bridgewater.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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Delone Catholic graduate Jess Smith had a terrific week for the DeSales University women's tennis team last week.

The sophomore went a perfect 2-0 in both doubles and singles and for her efforts was named the Freedom Conference Player of the Week.

Smith followed that by earning the Bulldogs' only singles win in DeSales' 7-2 loss at rival Moravian on Wednesday.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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York College featured some great sports action, some of which involved YAIAA alumni this past weekend.

On Saturday, the Spartan women's soccer team captured a 2-0 decision over Gwynedd-Mercy College thanks to goals from Kali Macgregor and Kennard-Dale grad Jill Stanley.

Stanley holds the team-highs with three goals and seven points.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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Normally in the college spotlight we tend to focus on players, but the news from York College for today's blog is cause for a brief change as the school announced that John Zerfing will join the Spartans' staff as an assistant coach this upcoming season.

Zerfing has been a long-time coach in the area, including nearly 20 years at various levels in the Central York School District, where he concluded a four-year stint as varsity head coach in 2005.

Central won 57 games with Zerfing at the helm and he was named the YAIAA Coach of the Year in 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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Two former YAIAA athletes have had some early success this fall at Lebanon Valley College.

Michele Little, a 2007 Spring Grove graduate, was recently named the LVC Athlete of the Week for her play on the volleyball court.

She was also honored as the Commonwealth Conference Player of the Week for her efforts, which included being named to the All-Tournament team at SUNY Courtland University over Labor Day weekend.

Little had 14 kills in a three games to two loss to the host Courtland and followed with 13 more in the Dutchmen's 3-2 win over Montclair State in the third-place game.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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Central York graduate Caitlin Peterson notched Susquehanna University's lone goal in a 3-1 defeat at Misericorida University last week.

Peterson's marker, which came less than five minutes into the game, tied the score at one. Unfortunately for the Crusaders (1-2), that was the extent of their offense.

It was the second collegiate goal for the former Panther, who scored one in 2007 as a freshman.

Also on the Susquehanna squad is fellow sophomore Lauren Crawford, a Spring Grove alum.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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Littlestown alum Brett Stoops will begin the season listed as Shippensburg University's No. 1 right-halfback.

The redshirt-junior appeared in seven games last season and carried the ball three times for an impressive 29 yards, although 22 of those were on one carry against Lock Haven.

The 5-foot-10, 178-pound Stoops also caught one pass for five yards. He also returned one kickoff for 19 yards and was involved in two tackles on Red Raiders special teams.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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South Western grad Emily Colburn, a solid lacrosse player at Millersville University, was named to the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Division II Academic Honor Roll.

Colburn, who will be a senior when classes resume is a graphic arts major. She started 14 of the Marauders 15 games this season and fielded 35 ground balls and caused 13 turnovers.

To be considered for the IWLCA list a player must be at least a junior and maintain a minimum of a 3.2 grade point average.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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The college spotlight is preparing for another academic year and the first update to come across the mess that is my desk is from Hartford, Conn.

It is there that York Suburban graduate Alison "Ali" Schmidt completed her senior season this past spring on the Trinity College rowing team.

Schmidt was also named to the 2008 New England Small College Athletic Conference spring all-academic team.

It is am impressive accomplishment as to be on the NESCAC list an athlete must be a starter or key reserve for a varsity team while maintaining a 3.35 or better grade-point average.

Congratulations Ali.

Posted in College Spotlight Steve Navaroli

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Sometimes a trade seems to work out for both teams.

So far, that is the case in the Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers and Jason Bay to Boston deal, which also helped restock Pittsburgh's future -- until those players are good enough to be traded away.

Ramirez has already boosted a sometimes anemic Los Angeles offense and should be happy for awhile. Bay is off to a solid start with Boston and gives the Red Sox another quality bat along with a much better defensive outfield.

Plus, getting rid of the biggest headaches the Sox' organization had might be addition by subtraction.